Assessment of the effect of non-traditional cakes in goat diets on the fatty acid composition of milk

Relevance . Increasing the intake of unsaturated fatty acids, especially polyunsaturated ones, by adding oilseeds, oils or their by-products with a high oil content can positively affect the composition of fatty acids in goat milk and benefit human health. Methods . In accordance with the scheme of the experiment, soy meal in the diets of animals of groups I and II was replaced with hemp or linseed cake in the amount of 5% and 10% of the dry matter of the concentrated part of the diet, which were fed, including together with a probiotic drug. Results . It was found that linolenic acid (58.6%), oleic acid (20.1%) and linoleic acid (16.3%) made up a larger percentage in the composition of linseed cake, linoleic acid (53.4%) made up a large proportion in hemp cake. Analysis of the fatty acid composition of goat’s milk when feeding cakes showed that the profile of the mass fraction of 10 main fatty acids in total in the experimental groups amounted to more than 90% of all fatty acids in goat’s milk. To a greater extent, the mass fractions of monounsaturated oleic acid increased relative to the control group: when using linseed cake — by 4.5%, hemp cake — by 5.2%, respectively. In the experimental groups, lower levels of medium-chain were found in comparison with the control group (C12:0–C14:0) fatty acids. The peculiarities of the fatty acid composition of goat’s milk were found against the background of additional administration of a probiotic drug. The proportion of essential fatty acids in the experimental groups increased: with the use of linseed cake — by 1.4%, hemp cake — by 3.4%. A higher content of monounsaturated oleic (p < 0.05) and linoleic acids was found.